 |
|
||||||||||
 From the News Desk...Ability to change helps Standard reach centennialby John ReitmanThere was a time 18 years ago when employees at Standard Golf Co. wondered whether a fire that gutted the company’s 83-year-old building in downtown Cedar Falls, Iowa, might have signaled the end of the family owned business. That time wasted on uncertainty seems like a lifetime ago as the company celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.  Rather than close up shop after the fire, Pete Voorhees and sister Sara Gregory, grandchildren of founder Walter Voorhees, seized the moment as an opportunity to make the business bigger and better than ever. The dated brick structure was replaced by a modern manufacturing facility on the outskirts of town. Now 18 years after the fire, Standard Golf is plugging along with no apparent end in sight.
“In 1992, when the factory burned to the ground, Sara and Pete had the choice right then and there to closer ’er down. The physical facilities were essentially gone,” said Matt Hurley, a 20-year employee of the company and its vice president since Gregory retired from that position 10 years ago. “I think the reason they didn’t close the company is because they care about their employees. They’ve given employees a chance to make a living for 100 years now.”  For many of those 100 years, the folks at Standard have been manufacturing a variety of accessories used on golf courses – everything from cup cutters and flagsticks to trash receptacles and ballwashers, and just about everything in between.
Tom Brown has worked for the company since graduating from the University of Northern Iowa in 1972. He started in an entry-level position and eventually worked his way into sales and for the past 25 years has been the company’s purchasing manager. He also is the self-proclaimed company historian. He remembers the fire well. “Before the fire, we were a secret, even here in Cedar Falls,” said Brown, 59. “After the fire, we made headlines. Then everyone knew about us. “At the time of the fire they could’ve walked away, but they didn’t want it to end that way. Pete has made it grow.”  The company that now manufacturers range ball pickers, bunker rakes, shovels and tee markers of every kind imaginable, got its start in 1910 in the agricultural industry.
Started as Standard Manufacturing Co., the firm’s beginnings were in manufacturing of steel farm gates and other products such as cistern covers, street signs, wagon tongues and hog waterers. By 1925, as golf courses began to spring up in Cedar Falls, and elsewhere around the country, Walter Voorhees decided to add golf course accessories to his company’s product portfolio. His reasoning, according to Standard’s Web site, was because at that time no other company “offered a complete, standardized line of golf course accessories.” Much has changed since the days when Standard’s products were introduced to the golf market on Cedar Falls’ first nine-hole golf course. Today, the company has distributors in nearly 200 countries over six continents, and it is difficult to imagine there are many golf courses the world over that don’t have at least something with the Standard name on it. Indeed, Brown has seen much change since he was hired fresh out of the University of Northern Iowa in 1972. Standard’s catalog was about 20 pages thick when he started there 38 years ago. Today, it boasts 90-plus pages.  “During the ’80s and early ’90s we had record growth. We were so busy, we didn’t know which end was up,” Brown said. “We got the price we wanted, and we still couldn’t make enough.”
But keeping Standard near the top of the accessories market – a position Hurley readily admits his company shares with Par Aide – has been a work in progress. For years, Standard and Par Aide pretty much were the only major players in the field of golf course accessories, but that has changed in recent years. “It’s more difficult now. The economy is softer, and there is more competition,” Brown said. “When people are copying you, it keeps you on your toes.” Near as Hurley can tell, golf-playing businessmen everywhere decided they could one-up everyone in the accessories field, so they banded together and started their own companies. “There are 30-some companies in the business now,” said Hurley, a Cedar Falls native. “Twenty years ago, there were four or five companies. Par Aide and us shared about 90 percent of the market. That conversation must have gone on at 35 bars around the country at the same time. “People think this business is bigger than it is, but most of the things we make have the half life of plutonium.” Today, the company employs about 40 people, about half of whom work in manufacturing, the rest work in a variety of capacities. Among the most significant challenges for Hurley during his 10 years as the company’s vice president is that constant struggle against the status quo. In 2001, Hurley introduced the concept of lean manufacturing to reduce inventory, run sizes and the company’s ability to react to customer needs. “We were a 90-year-old company that did things a certain way because that’s the way they’d always been done in the past. We had 17 new competitors at the time. We needed to teach the elephant how to dance.”He likened the concept of change at the time to a circus elephant that is trained not to move from a stake even after the chain restricting its movement is removed. He spent weeks hiding small toy elephants throughout the plant. Employees found their interest piqued as they discovered the toys throughout the building. “We were a 90-year-old company that did things a certain way because that’s the way they’d always been done in the past,” Hurley said. “We had 17 new competitors at the time. We needed to teach the elephant how to dance.” The lean manufacturing concept produced immediate efficiencies, including reducing lead times on manufacturing jobs from as long as two weeks to as little as 30 minutes. “It’s easy to identify those bad habits, but it’s not so easy to get rid of all of them,” Hurley said. “We’re working toward progress, not perfection.” The company’s ongoing success, Hurley said, would not be possible without a supportive owner and inspired staff, many of whom have been with the company for several years. “I wish I could think of some non-schmaltzy way to describe it, but I can’t,” he said. “People are my most valuable asset. It’s like a family reunion here. We don’t all get along all of the time, but we come here as much for each other as we do for the company. We’re very fortunate.” |
In other news... Bayer consolidates professional, consumer divisions Jacqueline Applegate to oversee both segments; Josh Weeks to retire in November. Posted: 09/09/2010 Read more » July heat keeps many golfers at home Rounds played at private clubs, daily fee facilities drops 5 percent. Posted: 09/08/2010 Read more » Study examines spring pre-stress fertility programs Research finds no correlation between biostimulant applications before spring core cultivation and recovery. Posted: 09/02/2010 Read more » Aquatrols, TurfNet present Water Week The series of five Webinars is aimed at helping superintendents manage water and soils more efficiently. Posted: 09/01/2010 Read more » News and people briefs Registration opens soon for Irrigation Show, Briggs & Stratton elects new chairman, FMC taps new director for professional solutions division Posted: 09/01/2010 Read more » Complete news index » |
|
 |
 — The TurfNet Media Network: TurfNet.com, TurfNet TV, TurfNet Monthly, TurfNet University — Connecting golf course superintendents worldwide, since 1994. © 1994-2010, Turnstile Publishing Company. All rights reserved. |
 |